NHTSA Complaint #11520217 — 2017 HYUNDAI TUCSON

I took the vehicle in for a recall for unrelated issues to this problem at 90,000 miles (July 6 2022). The technician noted that the vehicle was leaking oil and it needed an oil pan reseal. I brought the vehicle back for this service on March 6 2023. Between the initial recall service and this service, I noticed that the vehicle was consuming a significant amount of oil, beyond regular consumption. On several occasions, after about 1000 miles after the oil was changed, I was adding 2-3 quarts of oil to the vehicle. Moreover, when the oil was changed, the technician who changed the oil, noted that the oil was very dirty despite only going 3000-4000 miles between oil changes. I mentioned this to the Lehigh Valley Hyundai Service Desk and that it was highly unlikely that an oil pan reseal would resolve this. They ordered an oil consumption test and instructed me to drive the vehicle for 1000 miles. I did this and brought the vehicle back in to Lehigh Valley Hyundai on April 1, 2023. They checked the oil, the technician ordered an oil combustion cleaning, and instructed me to drive the vehicle an additional 1000 miles before bringing it back in for the oil combustion test. During this period, I noticed that the vehicle lost a significant amount of power. During a drive back from Widener University, I barely had enough power to drive up hills on the Northeast Extension and almost got into two wrecks due to the lack of power. I took the vehicle back to Hyundai on April 8, 2023 and notified them of this issue. They checked the vehicle out and notified me that the catalytic converter was clogged and needed to be replaced. They gave me a quote of $4000 to complete this service. This service was extraordinarily high priced compared to other mechanic services which cost between $2000-2500. I checked with other services and they indicated that they did not have access to the part and only Hyundai had access to the catalytic converter.